Author: gws

Introducing Regina Wilson, New Steering Committee Member

As far as I know, I had never met a Mennonite until August 1990 when my husband Jeff Nixa and I were blessed to meet Gerald and Joetta Schlabach at Notre Dame.  Aside from the pleasure and blessing of meeting Gerald and Joetta, no fireworks occurred from this meeting.  In fact, I only learned a little bit about the Mennonite Church at that point.  Gerald and I were in a class together at Notre Dame and our paths occasionally crossed at various ND theology functions along the way.  Little did I expect what would unfold in Jeff’s and my life in subsequent years.  In fact, in some ways this is more Jeff’s story than mine, but I was definitely along for the ride.

Jeff and I are what is known as cradle Catholics.  Catholicism is what I know. I basically eat, sleep and breathe it, and, though I am unhappy about some aspects of the Catholic Church, it’s family.  Jeff, on the other hand, came to a point where the sins of the Catholic Church far outweighed the grace for him, and he decided to take a break from Catholicism.  Gerald and Joetta had invited us several times to worship at Kern Road Mennonite Church here in South Bend.  Due to my responsibilities as a pastoral associate, it is difficult for me to get away on a Sunday.  Jeff, however, decided to give it a go and went one Sunday to Kern for worship.  One Sunday led to another worshipping at Kern Road.  Of course, he would give me glowing reports about community life, women preaching, the singing, and the commitment to justice.  Of course, I was jealous.  Before long that first worship experience had led to five years with Kern Road for Jeff.

During this time, we both met many other Mennonite folks and developed friendships along the way.  I also grew more impatient with the division between not only the Mennonite and Catholic Churches but between all Christian Churches. As my associations with Mennonites grew and deepened and as we occasionally shared worship, I grew more uncomfortable and embarrassed by the division we were “celebrating” (in a sense) at Sunday worship.  Sharing the pain of this division has sharpened my desire to be part of the work for unity.

Our girls were both baptized in the Catholic Church.  As time passed and they grew older, issues about which church to raise them in became more pressing for us.  Eventually, Jeff decided to return to the Catholic Church but, of course, neither one of us has been the same since.  Meeting Gerald and Joetta on a balmy August day in Indiana was the beginning of an experience that has deeply formed my ministry in the Catholic Church and has been life changing for our family.

Serving on the steering committee for Bridgefolk is a way for me to continue to share in the blessings and gifts of the Mennonite Church as well as to engage in the work for Christian unity.

— Regina Wilson

An update from Bridgefolk in the Newton, KS area

It was good to return home from the July meeting at St. John’s and have other “bridgefolk” to meet with for debriefing, reflecting, and brainstorming options for bridge-building work right here in our own community.

Like many of you we have individually tried to find ways to communicate our experience to friends, family, and members of our churches and parishes. Gordon Houser certainly has the widest reach as an editor of The Mennonite, and some of you may have read the article he wrote on the Bridgefolk gathering.

We have made a couple of attempts to do some of this sharing as a group. Several of us shared at New Creation Mennonite Fellowship here in Newton as part of a Sunday morning worship service. Gordon also called us together to help lead a chapel service at the Mennonite Church USA offices in town.  Our reflections on the July gathering and our need as Mennonites to help create stronger relationships with our Catholic sisters and brothers seemed to be well received.

More recently, C. Arnold Snyder (another Bridgefolk participant) came to Newton and offered the Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College (Nov. 3-5). Myrna Krehbiel learned that Arnold is a gifted jazz pianist and set up a special evening concert at Peace Connections in Newton where she serves as the director.  It was a fun night of connecting with others through music. Thank you Arnold for the many gifts you shared with us!  (Why didn’t we hear you tickle the ivories this summer??  Maybe next time!)

Our current national and international environment is, of course, causing us to reflect in some new ways on what it means to be disciples and Christian peacebuilders in our world today.  A number of recent actions and activities in the Newton community have allowed us to build bridges with people of many stripes who are working for peace.

The July 2002 Bridgefolk gathering was a meaningful event for each one of us, and we will continue to seek ways to keep the spirit of hospitality, peace, and understanding we encountered there alive and moving here on the Kansas prairies.  Blessings to all of the bridgefolk out there!  May God’s fierce love and enduring peace move in this beautiful and unsettled world.

(Bridgefolk 2002 participants from Newton were Gordon Houser, Myrna & Randy Krehbiel, Don & Corinne Kehrberg, and Eric Massanari):

 

Catholic and Mennonite scholars announce joint project to study Anabaptist martyrs, 2003

A group of prominent Mennonite and Catholic scholars will gather this summer at St. Johns Abbey to begin a joint historical study of the sixteenth-century Anabaptist martyrs, many of them condemned to death by the Inquisition.

It will be the first time Catholics have publicly confronted these incidents, and the first time that Mennonites have engaged in historical study of the martyrs in an ecumenical setting.

Entitled “The Anabaptist Martyr in an Ecumenical Context” the conference is an outgrowth of the international Mennonite Catholic dialogue that has been taking place for the past five years under the auspices of the Mennonite World Conference and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.  Continue reading “Catholic and Mennonite scholars announce joint project to study Anabaptist martyrs, 2003” →

“Enough to Go Around”

by Eric Massanari

“We are all standing in a river of Christ,
and we are being carried along by currents we cannot comprehend.”

Those struck me as very wise and timely words when I heard them spoken a few weeks ago by a former Mennonite, and now Catholic, Ivan Kauffman. Ivan was speaking to a group of sixty of us (roughly half Mennonites and half Catholics) who had gathered for discussions on peacemaking and spirituality at St. John’s Abbey in  Collegeville, Minnesota.  We are all standing in a river of Christ, and we are being carried along by currents we cannot comprehend.

They were appropriate words to begin our time together because we soon realized that although many different life experiences (or, “currents”) had brought us to that place, we could find a common place on which to stand because of our common faith in Christ. Continue reading ““Enough to Go Around”” →

Meeting with Sant’Egidio community, pope urges proclamation of the gospel of peace

To a World Marked by Tensions, Proclaim the Gospel of Peace

VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2003 (VIS) – This morning in the Clementine Hall, the Holy Father received 300 bishops, priests and friends of the Community of Sant’Egidio who are holding a meeting on the theme “The Gospel of Peace” to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the community by Prof. Andrea Riccardi. Continue reading “Meeting with Sant’Egidio community, pope urges proclamation of the gospel of peace” →

We Pledge Allegiance…

by Gerald Schlabach

Sojourners

In a time of crisis, uncertainty, and policy debate, one would think that Christians in the United States would agree: When in doubt, we should support our leader and remain loyal to our nation.

Our leader, of course, is Jesus Christ. Our nation, of course, is the people called church, spread around the globe. Our pledge of allegiance, of course, is one that can be sung from within “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelations 5:9). Of course? Continue reading “We Pledge Allegiance…” →

Mennonite-Catholic dialogue featured in Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano

International Contacts Between Mennonites and Catholics

by John A. Radano

For its relationship with Mennonites, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is in touch with the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) whose central office is in Strasbourg, France. Those communities from different parts of the world adhering to the MWC consist altogether of about one million persons.

There were two important contacts in this past year. First, the President of the MWC, Dr. Mesach Kristeya accepted the invitation of Pope John Paul II to participate in the “Day of Prayer for Peace in the World” January 24, 2002, in Assisi, and read one of the ten statements of commitment in the third part of that day. Second, another session took place of the international dialogue organized by the MWC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Continue reading “Mennonite-Catholic dialogue featured in Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano“ →

More affirmation of ecclesial movements from the Vatican

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND NEW MOVEMENTS EXTOLLED AS COMPLEMENTARY
Called to Respond to Today’s Dehumanization, Says Official

ROME, DEC. 4, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Religious congregations and  ecclesial movements need one another, and there are particular areas where they can cooperate, said conferees at a recent assembly.

The areas where they could cooperate include the struggle against  poverty, commitment against war, spirituality and interreligious  dialogue.

That was a conclusion of the 61st semester assembly of the Union  of Superiors General (USG), which focused on the topic “Laity and  Religious Together Before the Challenges of the Third Millennium.” Continue reading “More affirmation of ecclesial movements from the Vatican” →